It's being filled out with tons of game play mechanics as we speak. Remember hearing about how certain characters can summon a Gravelord in to 3 random people's game world? I always thought that sounded kind of stupid, since you send a cpu controlled enemy into other people's games. It just seemed kind of random, and trollish. Well, here is a little more information about why, exactly, that isn't actually as cheap and sort of random as it sounds:

Being a Gravelord's servant allows you to invoke the gravelord ability, which consists of you placing a soul sign of your own on the ground. This soul sign will appear in 3 other player's worlds, wherever you sat the sign down. It is in the best interest for players to hide the soul sign to avoid what I'm about to mention. While the gravelord is invoked, black phantom monsters (upgraded versions of already difficult creatures) will be summoned in 3 other worlds.

The reason for invoking the gravelord isn't to gain humanity. Invasions are. When using the gravelord, if a player dies while under the effect of it, his blood stain will be robbed of half of his souls, all of which are given to the gravelord. If a player finds the soul sign of the gravelord, he can invade the gravelords world and kill him, thus freeing all 3 worlds of the curse. To be frank, all 3 players can invade at the same time, which makes the gravelord very risky, abeit extremely fun.

I really hope I can find a way to get Live working before this comes out.

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All men dream, but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds, wake in the day to find that it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act on their dreams with open eyes, to make them possible.

At one point, I had bizarre froglike creatures breathe a cursing mist all over me, causing me to become cursed. Becoming cursed means losing half of your health bar, and lifting the curse involved sprinting through the murky New Londo ruins, avoiding ghosts while seeking the special healer who could lift the curse. After idling for too long in a demon's abode, a bulbous growth sprouted on my head, and I could no longer equip a helmet. Now I have a giant tumor growing on my neck instead of a head and no access to the defensive benefits of the black-hemmed hood I love so much!

This sounds brutal. I'm concerned to put $60 on a game that I might throw out the window because of frustration.

Cleric with auto-Covenant of the White and then later joining Blade of the Darkmoon. I think this is a great first run through. NG+ might be a different ball game. Might venture into neutral parties, Warrior of Sunlight sounds fun with a Knight or Warrior class build. Or a Pyromancer with Path of the Dragon. NG++ will ultimately be Deprived with Dark Wraith and trolling the shit out of people in PVP

I have the PS3 and 360 versions on same day delivery. Should be in my eager hands tomorrow when I get home I haven't decided which one to play yet... I hate to having the first game on the PS3 and the second on the 360. But the promise of online collaboration on the 360 is a factor. Yet, it looks like the system is similar to the original, so online cooperation probably wouldn't end up being coordinated anyway. Maybe I should just take the 360 version back.

I wonder if there is any performance difference between the two. The first engine was designed for the PS3, so maybe it runs better than on the 360.